


Ease

by wanderingastro



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Pre S7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-15
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-06-27 23:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15696042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingastro/pseuds/wanderingastro
Summary: “Keith, do you remember what you said to me during the fight?”Keith’s eyes grow distant, and Shiro knows he is reliving it; the flames, the smoke, the chaos.“Of course.” Keith’s voice is low and almost hoarse.“I love you too.” Shiro says quietly, eyes gazing into the fierce ones across from him. Maybe he doesn’t clarify exactly, but the way Keith looks at him makes Shiro think it’s enough for now.





	Ease

**Author's Note:**

> title is from [Ease](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAt1m1lQK3w) by Troye Sivan which actually goes so well with this lil piece I recommend you listen :)

 

 

When Shiro first returns to them, Keith is always there. He practically lives by Shiro’s side during the first few weeks. Shiro’s perennial shadow. There is more than one night when Shiro jolts awake from a nightmare, glancing around frantically. His makeshift sleeping quarters are dimly lit by thin strips of blue light lining the walls, and the quiet hum of machinery seeps through the Black Lion. Keith is there every time, curled up in a chair in the corner, arms hugged to his chest, or covered beneath a thin blanket on the hard metal floor at Shiro’s feet.

 

One night, Shiro awakens to find Keith has fallen asleep in a chair at Shiro’s bedside. His head lies in his arms, which lie firmly across Shiro’s legs. He snores softly, strands of inky hair fall across his forehead, one curled onto his eyelid. Shiro swears he can feel the beating of Keith’s heart against his thigh. In those quiet moments that constitute of _night_ here in space, Shiro is always struck by how young Keith looks, how smooth his features seem when worry doesn’t tug at his brows or at the corners of Keith’s lips.

But Keith is not young, there is no denying that. While Shiro is definitely not the same person he had been before the battle with Zarkon – and the stark white hair that now covers his head is proof- Keith is not either. His body has filled out, shoulders broader, muscles more defined. It makes Shiro feel a little lightheaded.

_“I love you.”_

Shiro plays Keith’s declaration to him over and over in his head like a broken record. Maybe Shiro is just going crazy from being cooped up in this tiny ship for so long, the feeling of a corporeal body weighing on his soul, but Shiro thinks maybe he loves Keith too.

Of course Shiro loves Keith, but maybe Shiro _loves_ Keith. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s been happening for years, slowly.

These thoughts swim circles in Shiro’s brain for hours, and as the days grow, Shiro finds it harder and harder to withhold them from the one person he spends every moment with. The boy- no, the man with hair the color of space and eyes a shade of thunder. Shiro can’t lie to himself, he is terrified. He doesn’t think he could get through this without Keith’s headstrong determination. ‘ _So what it’s a new body, so what you haven’t existed in a corporeal form in months, you’re here with me and I’m_ not _letting you go’._ Keith keeps Shiro alive by mere force of will, and Shiro doesn’t think he could continue breathing if Keith retreated away from him.

As days turn into weeks, Keith grows restless, and Shiro can’t blame him. A perpetual fire burns beneath Keith’s soles, he was never built to stay in one place for very long. Being cooped up in the Black Lion adds a nervous edge to Keith Shiro hasn’t seen since their days in the Garrison. There is always some little piece of machinery swiveling between Keith’s slender fingers, and Keith has taken to walking paces around the lion for hours on end, sharp eyes darting through the front window every few seconds, as if expecting the blank expanse of space to change.  

Shiro can’t blame Keith, as he feels himself going a little stir crazy too. But Keith’s presence now brings a restlessness edged with tension. Shiro so desperately wants to help Keith in any way he can. The concept of debt and repayment doesn’t exist between Keith and Shiro- never has, but Shiro still yearns to find any way to bring Keith comfort and peace in the way Keith consistently has for him since Shiro first awoke.  

It’s late in the evening, and they’ve just finished dinner. Shiro lies on his bed, watching Keith pace the length of his sleeping quarters. He twists a bronze gear between his fingertips, eyes silently darting across every inch of the confined space.

“Keith.” Shiro calls, and Keith immediately turns, willing to help with whichever new challenge has arisen. Shiro scoots to the side of his bed, and pats the now empty space besides him.

“Come, lie with me for a moment.”

Keith hesitates for a fraction, before gingerly lying down besides Shiro. He stares up at the ceiling silently, and Shiro can feel tension hang in the air. He waits for a breath, then Keith speaks up.

“I’m sorry Shiro, it’s too much.” He sits up, looking down at Shiro. His violet eyes are wild.

“I can’t sit still like this. It’s making me go crazy.”

Shiro nods in silent understanding, and watches Keith stand and exit his room.

The next evening, it’s the same routine. Shiro watches Keith move like there’s a fight jumping in his bones. He decides to try again, this time scooting over wordlessly. Keith catches on, and sits beside Shiro without lying down.

“Please Keith.” Shiro takes a rattling breath, “I need this.”

Keith’s body folds, and he lies next to Shiro, curled onto his side so they’re facing each other. The watch each other silently, until Shiro finally murmurs,

“Keith, do you remember what you said to me during the fight?”

Keith’s eyes grow distant, and Shiro knows he is reliving it; the flames, the smoke, the chaos.

“Of course.” Keith’s voice is low and almost hoarse.

“I love you too.” Shiro says quietly, eyes gazing into the fierce ones across from him. Maybe he doesn’t clarify exactly, but the way Keith looks at him makes Shiro think it’s enough for now.

Keith’s fingers graze a light trail across Shiro’s cotton shirt but remains silent. They stay like that for a few more moments before Keith rises from the bed, giving Shiro a last glance before disappearing into the cockpit.

The next evening, they finally reach a small moon Krolia and Coran had deemed safe. Although the atmosphere is strange and cold, it feels so nice to be _outside_. Shiro watches silently as Keith walks ahead of him, his shoulders fall and his footsteps are lighter. The constant movement of Keith’s nimble fingers has finally abated and Shiro can’t help but smile softly. 

They eat a small dinner that Hunk has managed to conjure sat on the rocky ground of the barren satellite and Keith sits close enough to Shiro that their thighs brush against each other. Once they’ve finished eating, Lance goads Keith, and eventually the rest of the crew into a simple game of tag. As juvenile as it may seem, Shiro thinks it’s exactly what they all need right now.

 As the hours pass, it gets colder and they eventually return to their lions to recharge and get some sleep before taking off again tomorrow. Shiro finds that the soft blue lights and Altean linens feel more comforting than suffocating now. He lies in bed silently, listening to the hum of the Black Lion as it recharges. Shiro looks up when he hears the door slide open with a _swish_ and Keith enters silently.

 Wordlessly, Keith maneuvers his limbs over Shiro, and nestles himself between Shiro and the wall. Keith lays a loose arm over Shiro’s waist and tucks a knee into the crook of Shiro’s thigh.

“Thank you, I needed this.” Shiro manages, and Keith’s fingers twitch against Shiro’s cotton t-shirt in agreement.

Later that night, when Shiro gasps awake from yet another nightmare, Keith is there. Without a word, he presses sure fingers to Shiro’s stomach. He cradles Shiro against his chest, and the steady drum of Keith’s heartbeat is enough to let Shiro learn to breathe again. Keith settles his forehead against Shiro’s back at the point where his neck becomes his ribs, and a warmth spreads through Shiro like honey.

Shiro doesn’t think he’s ever been held like this.

 A little trill of electricity races down Shiro’s spine when Keith places a soft kiss between Shiro’s shoulder blades, but he settles back into Keith with ease. For the first time in years, Shiro feels like maybe he really is only 26 years old, lighter than his bones and his scars and the weariness in his mind.

“Everything’s okay, I’m here. Sleep, baby.” Keith whispers, and Shiro feels like a young sun; bright and quiet and warm. 

**Author's Note:**

> I may have drawn a little [piece](https://solarshiro.tumblr.com/post/176897659249/just-let-them-take-a-nap-drawn-pre-s7-hence) to go with this story but I was feeling a bit lost at first with the writing so I focused on the art, and posted that first :)


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